This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

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Found problems: 622

A positive integer $a$ is selected, and some positive integers are written on a board. Alice and Bob play the following game. On Alice's turn, she must replace some integer $n$ on the board with $n+a$, and on Bob's turn he must replace some even integer $n$ on the board with $n/2$. Alice goes first and they alternate turns. If on his turn Bob has no valid moves, the game ends. After analyzing the integers on the board, Bob realizes that, regardless of what moves Alice makes, he will be able to force the game to end eventually. Show that, in fact, for this value of $a$ and these integers on the board, the game is guaranteed to end regardless of Alice's or Bob's moves.
There is the number $1$ on the board at the beginning. If the number $a$ is written on the board, then we can also write a natural number $b$ such that $a + b + 1$ is a divisor of $a^2 + b^2 + 1$. Can any positive integer appear on the board after a certain time? Justify your answer.
Arnaldo and Bernardo play a Super Naval Battle. Each has a board $n \times n$. Arnaldo puts boats on his board (at least one but not known how many). Each boat occupies the $n$ houses of a line or a column and the boats they can not overlap or have a common side. Bernardo marks $m$ houses (representing shots) on your board. After Bernardo marked the houses, Arnaldo says which of them correspond to positions occupied by ships. Bernardo wins, and then discovers the positions of all Arnaldo's boats. Determine the lowest value of $m$ for which Bernardo can guarantee his victory.
Sheldon and Bella play a game on an infinite grid of cells. On each of his turns, Sheldon puts one of the following tetrominoes (reflections and rotations aren't permitted) [asy] size(200); draw((0, 0)--(1, 0)--(1, 2)--(0, 2)--cycle); draw((1, 1)--(2, 1)--(2, 3)--(1, 3)--cycle); draw((0,1)--(1,1)); draw((1,2)--(2,2)); draw((5, 0.5)--(6, 0.5)--(6, 1.5)--(5, 1.5)--cycle); draw((6, 0.5)--(7, 0.5)--(7, 1.5)--(6, 1.5)--cycle); draw((6, 1.5)--(7, 1.5)--(7, 2.5)--(6, 2.5)--cycle); draw((7, 1.5)--(8, 1.5)--(8, 2.5)--(7, 2.5)--cycle); [/asy] somewhere on the grid without overlap. Then, Bella colors that tetromino such that it has a different color from any other tetromino that shares a side with it. After $2631$ such moves by each player, the game ends, and Sheldon's score is the number of colors used by Bella. What's the maximum $N$ such that Sheldon can guarantee that his score will be at least $N$?
Peter has three accounts in a bank, each with an integral number of dollars. He is only allowed to transfer money from one account to another so that the amount of money in the latter is doubled. Prove that Peter can always transfer all his money into two accounts. Can Peter always transfer all his money into one account?
A traveller visited a village whose inhabitants either always tell the truth or always lie. The villagers stood in a circle facing the centre of the circle, and each villager announced whether the person standing to his right is a truth-teller. On the basis of this information, the traveller was able to determine what fraction of the villagers were liars. What was this fraction? (B, Frenkin)
Greedy goblin Griphook has a regular $2000$-gon, whose every vertex has a single coin. In a move, he chooses a vertex, removes one coin each from the two adjacent vertices, and adds one coin to the chosen vertex, keeping the remaining coin for himself. He can only make such a move if both adjacent vertices have at least one coin. Griphook stops only when he cannot make any more moves. What is the maximum and minimum number of coins he could have collected? [i]Proposed by Pranjal Srivastava and Rohan Goyal[/i]
Let $ p \geq 2$ be a prime number. Eduardo and Fernando play the following game making moves alternately: in each move, the current player chooses an index $i$ in the set $\{0,1,2,\ldots, p-1 \}$ that was not chosen before by either of the two players and then chooses an element $a_i$ from the set $\{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9\}$. Eduardo has the first move. The game ends after all the indices have been chosen .Then the following number is computed: $$M=a_0+a_110+a_210^2+\cdots+a_{p-1}10^{p-1}= \sum_{i=0}^{p-1}a_i.10^i$$. The goal of Eduardo is to make $M$ divisible by $p$, and the goal of Fernando is to prevent this. Prove that Eduardo has a winning strategy. [i]Proposed by Amine Natik, Morocco[/i]
Let $ p \geq 2$ be a prime number. Eduardo and Fernando play the following game making moves alternately: in each move, the current player chooses an index $i$ in the set $\{0,1,2,\ldots, p-1 \}$ that was not chosen before by either of the two players and then chooses an element $a_i$ from the set $\{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9\}$. Eduardo has the first move. The game ends after all the indices have been chosen .Then the following number is computed: $$M=a_0+a_110+a_210^2+\cdots+a_{p-1}10^{p-1}= \sum_{i=0}^{p-1}a_i.10^i$$. The goal of Eduardo is to make $M$ divisible by $p$, and the goal of Fernando is to prevent this. Prove that Eduardo has a winning strategy. [i]Proposed by Amine Natik, Morocco[/i]
Anna and Basilis play a game writing numbers on a board as follows: The two players play in turns and if in the board is written the positive integer $n$, the player whose turn is chooses a prime divisor $p$ of $n$ and writes the numbers $n+p$. In the board, is written at the start number $2$ and Anna plays first. The game is won by whom who shall be first able to write a number bigger or equal to $31$. Find who player has a winning strategy, that is who may writing the appropriate numbers may win the game no matter how the other player plays.
There are $14$ players participating at a chess tournament, each playing one game with every other player. After the end of the tournament, the players were ranked in descending order based on their points. The sum of the points of the first three players is equal with the sum of the points of the last nine players. What is the highest possible number of draws in the tournament.(For a victory the player gets $1$ point, for a loss $0$ points, in a draw both players get $0,5$ points.)
Régis, Ed and Rafael are at the IMO. They are going to play a game in Bath, and there are $2^n$ houses in the city. Régis and Ed will team up against Rafael. The game operates as follows: First, Régis and Ed think on a strategy and then let Rafael know it. After this, Régis and Ed no longer communicate, and the game begins. Rafael decides on an order to visit the houses and then starts taking Régis to them in that order. At each house, except for the last one, Régis choose a number between $1$ and $n$ and places it in the house. In the last house, Rafael chooses a number from $1$ to $n$ and places it there. Afterwards, Ed sees all the houses and the numbers in them, and he must guess in which house Rafael placed the number. Ed is allowed $k$ guesses. What is the smallest $k$ for which there exists a strategy for Ed and Régis to ensure that Ed correctly guess the house where Rafael placed the number?
Nickolas and Peter divide $2n+1$ nuts amongst each other. Both of them want to get as many as possible. Three methods are suggested to them for doing so, each consisting of three stages. The first two stages are the same in all three methods: [i]Stage 1:[/i] Peter divides the nuts into 2 heaps, each containing at least 2 nuts. [i]Stage 2:[/i] Nickolas divides both heaps into 2 heaps, each containing at least 1 nut. Finally, stage 3 varies among the three methods as follows: [i]Method 1:[/i] Nickolas takes the smallest and largest of the heaps. [i]Method 2:[/i] Nickolas takes the two middle size heaps. [i]Method 3:[/i] Nickolas chooses between taking the biggest and the smallest heap or the two middle size heaps, but gives one nut to Peter for the right of choice. Determine the most and the least profitable method for Nickolas.
Bob proposes the following game to Johanna. The board in the figure is an equilateral triangle subdivided in turn into $256$ small equilateral triangles, one of which is painted in black. Bob chooses any point inside the board and places a small token. Johanna can make three types of plays. Each of them consists of choosing any of the $3$ vertices of the board and move the token to the midpoint between the current position of the tile and the chosen vertex. In the second figure we see an example of a move in which Johana chose vertex $A$. Johanna wins if she manages to place her piece inside the triangle black. Prove that Johanna can always win in at most $4$ moves. [asy] unitsize(8 cm); pair A, B, C; int i; A = dir(60); C = (0,0); B = (1,0); fill((6/16*(1,0) + 1/16*dir(60))--(7/16*(1,0) + 1/16*dir(60))--(6/16*(1,0) + 2/16*dir(60))--cycle, gray(0.7)); draw(A--B--C--cycle); for (i = 1; i <= 15; ++i) { draw(interp(A,B,i/16)--interp(A,C,i/16)); draw(interp(B,C,i/16)--interp(B,A,i/16)); draw(interp(C,A,i/16)--interp(C,B,i/16)); } label("$A$", A, N); label("$B$", B, SE); label("$C$", C, SW); [/asy] [asy] unitsize(8 cm); pair A, B, C, X, Y, Z; int i; A = dir(60); C = (0,0); B = (1,0); X = 9.2/16*(1,0) + 3.3/16*dir(60); Y = (A + X)/2; Z = rotate(60,X)*(Y); fill((6/16*(1,0) + 1/16*dir(60))--(7/16*(1,0) + 1/16*dir(60))--(6/16*(1,0) + 2/16*dir(60))--cycle, gray(0.7)); draw(A--B--C--cycle); for (i = 1; i <= 15; ++i) { draw(interp(A,B,i/16)--interp(A,C,i/16)); draw(interp(B,C,i/16)--interp(B,A,i/16)); draw(interp(C,A,i/16)--interp(C,B,i/16)); } draw(A--X, dotted); draw(arc(Z,abs(X - Y),-12,40), Arrow(6)); label("$A$", A, N); label("$B$", B, SE); label("$C$", C, SW); dot(A); dot(X); dot(Y); [/asy]
The figure shows a game board with $16$ squares. At the start of the game, two cars are placed in different squares. Two players $A$ and $B$ alternately take turns, and A starts. In each turn, the player chooses one of the cars and moves it one or more squares to the right. The left-most car may never overtake or land on the same square as the right-most car. The first player which is unable to move loses. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/1/b/8d6f40fac4983d6aa9bd076392c91a6d200f6a.png[/img] (a) Prove that A can win regardless of how $B$ plays, if the two cars start as shown in the figure. (b) Determine all starting positions in which $B$ can win regardless of how $A$ plays.
There are $9999$ rods with lengths $1, 2, ..., 9998, 9999$. The players Anja and Bernd alternately remove one of the sticks, with Anja starting. The game ends when there are only three bars left. If from those three bars, a not degenerate triangle can be constructed then Anja wins, otherwise Bernd. Who has a winning strategy?
A solitaire game is played on an $m\times n$ rectangular board, using $mn$ markers which are white on one side and black on the other. Initially, each square of the board contains a marker with its white side up, except for one corner square, which contains a marker with its black side up. In each move, one may take away one marker with its black side up, but must then turn over all markers which are in squares having an edge in common with the square of the removed marker. Determine all pairs $(m,n)$ of positive integers such that all markers can be removed from the board.
Alice plays the following game of solitaire on a $20 \times 20$ chessboard. She begins by placing $100$ pennies, $100$ nickels, $100$ dimes, and $100$ quarters on the board so that each of the $400$ squares contains exactly one coin. She then chooses $59$ of these coins and removes them from the board. After that, she removes coins, one at a time, subject to the following rules: - A penny may be removed only if there are four squares of the board adjacent to its square (up, down, left, and right) that are vacant (do not contain coins). Squares “off the board” do not count towards this four: for example, a non-corner square bordering the edge of the board has three adjacent squares, so a penny in such a square cannot be removed under this rule, even if all three adjacent squares are vacant. - A nickel may be removed only if there are at least three vacant squares adjacent to its square. (And again, “off the board” squares do not count.) - A dime may be removed only if there are at least two vacant squares adjacent to its square (“off the board” squares do not count). - A quarter may be removed only if there is at least one vacant square adjacent to its square (“off the board” squares do not count). Alice wins if she eventually succeeds in removing all the coins. Prove that it is impossiblefor her to win.
In a box there are $31$, $41$ and $59$ stones coloured, respectively, red, green and blue. Three players, having t-shirts of these three colours, play the following game. They sequentially make one of two moves: (I) either remove three stones of one colour from the box, (II) or replace two stones of different colours by two stones of the third colour. The game ends when all the stones in the box have the same colour and the winner is the player whose t-shirt has this colour. Assuming that the players play optimally, is it possible to decide whether the game ends and who will win, depending on who the starting player is?
There is a queue of $n{}$ girls on one side of a tennis table, and a queue of $n{}$ boys on the other side. Both the girls and the boys are numbered from $1{}$ to $n{}$ in the order they stand. The first game is played by the girl and the boy with the number $1{}$ and then, after each game, the loser goes to the end of their queue, and the winner remains at the table. After a while, it turned out that each girl played exactly one game with each boy. Prove that if $n{}$ is odd, then a girl and a boy with odd numbers played in the last game. [i]Proposed by A. Gribalko[/i]
Amy and Bob play a game. They alternate turns, with Amy going first. At the start of the game, there are $20$ cookies on a red plate and $14$ on a blue plate. A legal move consists of eating two cookies taken from one plate, or moving one cookie from the red plate to the blue plate (but never from the blue plate to the red plate). The last player to make a legal move wins; in other words, if it is your turn and you cannot make a legal move, you lose, and the other player has won. Which player can guarantee that they win no matter what strategy their opponent chooses? Prove that your answer is correct.
On the board is written in decimal the integer positive number $N$. If it is not a single digit number, wipe its last digit $c$ and replace the number $m$ that remains on the board with a number $m -3c$. (For example, if $N = 1,204$ on the board, $120 - 3 \cdot 4 = 108$.) Find all the natural numbers $N$, by repeating the adjustment described eventually we get the number $0$.
( "Sisyphian Labour" ) There are $1001$ steps going up a hill , with rocks on some of them {no more than 1 rock on each step ) . Sisyphus may pick up any rock and raise it one or more steps up to the nearest empty step . Then his opponent Aid rolls a rock (with an empty step directly below it) down one step . There are $500$ rocks, originally located on the first $500$ steps. Sisyphus and Aid move rocks in turn , Sisyphus making the first move . His goal is to place a rock on the top step. Can Aid stop him? ( S . Yeliseyev)
Alice and Bob play the following game. They write some fractions of the form $1/n$, where $n{}$ is positive integer, onto the blackboard. The first move is made by Alice. Alice writes only one fraction in each her turn and Bob writes one fraction in his first turn, two fractions in his second turn, three fractions in his third turn and so on. Bob wants to make the sum of all the fractions on the board to be an integer number after some turn. Can Alice prevent this? [i]Andrey Arzhantsev[/i]
A single player game has the following rules: initially, there are $10$ piles of stones with $1,2,...,10$ stones, respectively. A movement consists on making one of the following operations: [b]i)[/b] to choose $2$ piles, both of them with at least $2$ stones, combine them and then add $2$ stones to the new pile; [b]ii)[/b] to choose a pile with at least $4$ stones, remove $2$ stones from it, and then split it into two piles with amount of piles to be chosen by the player. The game continues until is not possible to make an operation. Show that the number of piles with one stone in the end of the game is always the same, no matter how the movements are made.